Evaluating quality of life perceived with a gender perspective: the case of Bilbao City

Abstract

The present paper proposes the use of the Correspondence Analysis statistical method as a complementary statistical analysis technique to establish how gender typologies are related to vulnerability indicator variables. The research also explores the differences between both sexes within vulnerable communities in Bilbao. The starting point lies in the lack of differences between women and men’s quality of life perceived according to the Bilbao City Council’s website publications. In order to confirm this assessment, the research analyses 1200 surveys conducted by the Bilbao City Council’s Urban Observatory. The study seeks to identify Bilbao’s gender pattern through correspondence analysis computed upon variables of sex, age, district, occupation, level of studies completed, residential satisfaction, perception of delinquency, drugs and physical barriers.
The results indicate that being a woman and living in a vulnerable community are constants in the typologies that relate to indicators of residential mobility, social vulnerability and physical fragility. This conclusion is contrary to the data published in the Bilbao Urban Observatory Report. The study also concludes that to surpass the initial perception of gender equality in quality of life in Bilbao City a multi-method analysis approach is necessary. This methodology allows recognizing the differences between women and men when exploring urban spatial dynamics from a gender-based perspective. Gender-based assessments entail more than disaggregated sex based data.